An incoming message or call to a mobile communication device, such as a cell phone, pager, personal data assistant (PDA), portable inventory tool, notebook computer, or the like, may trigger an audible alert, such as a ringing sound for any of a wide variety of ringtones, or the like. The ringing sound or ringtone, originally used in cable attached telephones, was commonly of a single frequency and duration. On mobile phones, ringtones can be customized to differentiate the ring of one ringing phone from the different rings of multiple phones and to personalize the ringtone to a user's preference.
Mobile devices may also allow a user to associate specific ringtones with specific entries in a personalized phonebook stored on the mobile device. The ringtones may be stored as music or as other audible sounds, such as the sound of a waterfall, traditional ringing sounds, special effect sounds, and the like. The flexibility to select ringtones and the capacity to store multiple ringtones has fostered the use of popular music segments as ringtones, which has reached commercial success by companies providing downloadable music ringtones at a price.
Many mobile phones also support a vibrating alert which may be used in conjunction with a ringtone to alert a user to an incoming call or text message. The vibrating alert may also be turned off or used without an accompanying ringtone. The vibrating alert feature is useful in noisy environments where a ringtone may not be clearly audible, in locations where a ringtone might be disturbing to an event underway, such as in a church or at a movie or play, to alert a user engaged in a conference, and for use by people with hearing impairments. In order to provide a vibration level of sufficient intensity to be recognized, even while the portable device is not visible, many mobile devices engage an embedded motor with an eccentric weight to cause the vibration.
Due to the proliferation of portable devices today and their increased usage, ringtones can become irritating to deal with in a wide variety of contexts, such as, business or family gatherings, by way of example.